Writers dread receiving feedback on their scripts for
many reasons. Here are some popular (yet bogus) reasons:

=> They want to believe they're so talented they do
not have to rewrite. Feedback interferes with that
delusion.

=> They want to believe the story they've written
works as a movie  just the way it is.

=> They want to be finished, and feedback sometimes (Almost
always, sigh!) reveals that more work needs to be done.

Professional screenwriters know that script feedback is
part of the process. They learn how to deal with it
effectively. Sometimes they even embrace this opportunity
to polish their script.

Why
Screenwriters Need Feedback

Writing is a solitary profession; but screenwriting is a
collaborative job. Here are three of the main reasons
screenwriters  even aspiring ones - need feedback
on their scripts.

1) Aspiring screenwriters need to know how to evaluate
and integrate feedback  it is part of the
screenwriters job description.

All professional screenwriting jobs involve feedback.
Writers attend story meetings before, during and after
the writing of the script. If a writer stays attached to
a project, these meetings continue all the way to the
last day of shooting and sometimes through the editing
process and the marketing of the finished film.

Feedback comes in all sizes and flavors -- helpful and
destructive, professional and amateurish, insightful and
dismissable. Sifting out useful feedback from useless
dreck is an important skill that all working
screenwriters must develop.

2) Feedback puts the writer in touch with the audience.

Movies need audiences to succeed. Produced screenwriters
benefit from the give and take an audience provides.
Unproduced writers can also benefit from audience
feedback whether this audience reads your screenplay
privately or attends a staged reading of your script.
Their feedback from this experience will answer these
vital questions: Does your script connect with the
audience? Have you fully realized your story, your
characters, your conflicts?

3) Working screenwriters automatically generate feedback
on their scripts; unproduced writers have to generate
their own feedback.

Professional screenwriters have agents and managers who
read their original scripts and give them feedback. When
writers are hired to write a screenplay, the producer or
studio executive provides a staff of development people
to read and evaluate the script at every stage of the
writing process. This feedback comes in the form of
notes, conference calls and story meetings.

Sometimes this process can be annoying or even counter-productive;
but sometimes it can be very helpful to the project. One
thing is certain -- all working screenwriters learn how
to manage these situations so their script survives and
thrives.

By generating feedback on their scripts, aspiring
screenwriters can start developing this vital skill
BEFORE they are thrown into a professional working
environment.

How
Writers Generate Feedback

You don't have to sign a five picture deal with Paramount
Pictures to generate feedback on your scripts. There are
many ways unproduced writers can instigate opportunities
for script feedback. Here are some suggestions:

Writers
Groups

Many writers belong to a writing group whose members read
each others work and comment on it. This can be
done in person or online. If the group you join does not
work for you, do not suffer in silence; find a group that
does work.

If you love movies, you probably know others who are
trying to establish themselves as writers, actors,
directors, producers and editors. These colleagues each
know a part of the film process but nobody knows
everything. While their feedback might not be complete,
it should be helpful to you because they are familiar
with a vital part of the filmmaking process.

Script
Coaches Or Professors

Professional script coaches and film professors can help
you raise your script to a new level. For a list of
reliable ones, try this tutorial => www.breakingin.net/tswcoaches.htm

Script
Readings

Unproduced writers can benefit enormously from a public
reading of their script. Contact an acting class at a
nearby college and volunteer some scenes for the students
to use. Offer your script to a community theatre group
for a staged reading. Or gather a group of friends who
are interested in movies and assign the roles yourself.
Do not read one of the roles, listen and learn.

Contests
With Feedback

Many screenplay contests offer feedback as part of the
prize. The following contests offer feedback to ALL
participants:

Lenore
Wright has 15 years experience writing and selling
screenplays in Los Angeles and New York. For free
marketing tips and tools SUBSCRIBE to her newsletter
Script Market News by sending a blank email to newsletter@breakingin.net or visit her
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